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ABUJA— As Nigerian armed forces move into three northern states that are under emergency rule, the army says Boko Haram militants have attacked a town outside the emergency area.

At a press conference Friday in the Nigerian capital, Major General Mobolaji Koleoso, chief of civil military affairs, said he won’t talk about what’s been called a “massive” movement of troops to the north to crush a nearly four-year-old insurgency.

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But outside of the emergency rule zone - in Katsina State - he said there was an attack on a town called Daura on Thursday night. He blamed Boko Haram, the Islamist militant group that behind attacks on churches, schools, police stations, military bases, and other targets, leaving thousands dead.

“Government and public institutions have been targeted with arson and of course they are just trying to cause mayhem, to disrupt the peaceful lives of the people of Daura," he said. "I mean, make them feel a sense of insecurity and make them to feel that they have come to town and they can take charge of their lives.”

He said two Boko Haram militants were killed in fighting while three others died in a car accident as they fled. He said soldiers recovered improvised explosive devices, golf cars, ammunition and 10 AK-47s.

Koleoso compared the attack to one in the northern town of Bama where dozens were killed on May 7 and referred to photographs taped to a board behind him. They appeared to be of dead bodies in camouflage military uniforms. Boko Haram militants are increasingly wearing camouflage, tricking the public into thinking they are government soldiers, he said.

“For the unsuspecting populace, these insurgents would have been misconstrued as soldiers of the Nigerian Army," Koleoso said. "No doubt, the Nigerian army has often been erroneously accused of heinous crimes on innocent citizens whereas the Boko Haram insurgents have been the perpetrators of the dastardly acts.”

Major attacks blamed on Nigeria's Boko Haram

2009
July - Attacks prompt government crackdown in Bauchi and Maiduguri; 800 people killed

2010
December - Bombings in central Nigeria and church attacks in the northeast kill 86

2011
June - Attack on a bar in Maiduguri kills 25
August - Suicide bomber kills 23 at U.N. building in Abuja
November - Bombings in Damaturu and Potiskum kill 65
December - Christmas Day bombings across Nigeria kill 39

2012
January -- Gun and bomb attacks in Kano up to 200
February - Maiduguri market attack kills 30
June - Suicide car bombings at three churches kill 21
July - Attacks in Plateau state kill dozens, including two politicians at a funeral for the victims

2013
February - French family kidnapped in Cameroon, held hostage for two months
April - Fighting with troops in Baga kills up to 200; residents say troops set deadly fires
May - Attacks in Bama kill more than 50
July - Gunmen kill 30 at a school in Yobe
August - Gunmen kill 44 at a mosque outside Maiduguri
September - Gunmen kill 40 students at a post-secondary school in Yobe
December - Militants attack military installations in Maiduguri

2014
January - Militants kill 74 people and burn down a village in attacks in Borno and Adamawa
February - Gunmen kill as many as 60 in attack on school in Yobe
April - Militants abduct 276 schoolgirls

Human Rights Watch says 3,600 people have been killed in Boko Haram-related violence, including hundreds killed by security forces.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International also accuse Nigerian security forces of escalating the violence by shooting suspects rather than arresting them, burning homes and locking suspects up for a long period of time without trials.

On Tuesday, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan ordered emergency rule and the immediate deployment of troops to three states that have been barraged by Boko Haram violence. The U.S. State Department called on Nigerian forces to keep human rights in mind as they go after the militants.

Afghan officials and human rights organizations assert that Pakistani authorities are using deadly attack at school in Peshawar as pretext to push out Afghan refugees More

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by: Godwin from: Nigeria

May 18, 2013 2:38 PM

I refer to that call by the US state department spokesperson as unnecessary. Nigerians and the armed forces understand the terrain very well and need not be told what to do to fish out the miscreants call boko haram. They have had too much liberty with the people and it's time the people helped point them out or pay the price of ignorance. But let it not look like someone is trying to undo the country in the wake of its positive listing by credit organizations. Some smart third eye should be set aside for this purpose.Maybe boko haram can be an unseen arm of foreign economic powers afraid of losing market, even though we also have known it as the visible arm of a religious terrorist Asian oligarchy spreading its tentacles in Africa.

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